As part of its testing criteria and resources program, the App Quality Alliance (AQuA) has released a new set of baseline and accessibility testing criteria for Windows apps. AQuA is a global association focused on helping the app development industry improve and promote mobile app quality across all platforms.

When using the Windows testing criteria, AQuA suggests that developers understand the criteria is not designed purely as prescriptive step-by-step tests. Instead it is a guide to questioning assumptions that may be made in the design and development stages, and of finding ways to check that those assumptions do not reduce usability.

The testing criteria are based upon recommendations designed for mobile phones running Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 8.1 or later. They may also be used with other handheld devices (such as tablets) running Windows 8 or later, but it will be necessary to omit any phone-specific tests on such devices.

The AQuA Windows Testing’s Criteria is intended to add to the guidance and testing resources already provided by Microsoft on MSDN and other sites, some of which are referenced in the criteria documentation. Several test cases offered in the document have been originated directly from Microsoft provided content.

The accessibility testing portion of the document is intended to be used to check the accessibility of an application for users with impairments in one or more categories of vision, color perception, hearing, speech, dexterity, and cognition on a handheld device running Windows.